It's a Creative World: Coaster Book

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Coaster Book

Ali here again,

a little while ago I was very honoured to be a part of The Design Collective,which created on'line classes.

As I am still having trouble with my fingers, i thought I would re-visit one of the classes that I designed back then,

I created a nifty little book out of chipboard coasters.

Instructions.

Measure the beer mats/coasters that are to be used.

Cut twice as many circles out of patterned paper as there are coasters. These circles should me 2mm/ 1/8^th inch smaller than the coasters.

Glue the paper circles to the coasters, leave to set. Glue a circle to each side-except on any that you are planning to leave a pocket in. Pockets can be constructed from two coasters, which are then glued together around the bottom edges – each coaster in a pocket pair will only need paper on the outer side.

At this point, if you wish, highlight areas of the pattern with Glossy Accents/Diamond Glaze. Leave to set.

Next, ink or paint the edges.

Measure the placement for the holes in the coasters. Each coaster has two holes, one on each side of the circle. The holes need to be 2-3 mm or ¼ inch in from the edge and level on each side. Use a hole punch or Cropodile to punch the two holes in each mat.

To make pockets take two coasters and run a line of strong glue (like glossy accents) along the bottom half of the coaster. Stick the two mats together, lining up the holes that have been made. It may help to secure the glued coasters with pegs until they are dried.

Lay your papered coasters out in the order that you want them to go

The front coaster will be at the left hand side of the row.

Tie a long ribbon to the first hole, and another to the last hole, ie one on each end. Then join all the coasters together, by tying each to its neighbour. Be sure to leave a little slack in the tied ribbons.

Now the book is formed it is ready for the addition of photographs and journaling etc. Lumpy embellishments can be used on the outsides of the covers but try not to use anything too bulky on the inside.

Try decorating some tags to go into the pockets. For added 'shabby' tie the strings to the ribbon bindings.

There are many ways to fold up the book. However, because there are only two ties you may find that some of the 'pages' may fall out. The best way to avoid this is to stack the pages thus:

Numbering from left to right with the outer cover on top.